Week 7

Anohter week...another update. So I'm into week seven of Dianette and week 6 of Differin. Had a good week (well as good as things can be until my skin is back to normal) The only active that I really had was the residual cyst. It wasn't too bad, but still bothering me. I actually thought it looked like it was coming to a head so tried to pop it...bit of a mistake. Ok I thought keep calm. I'm sick of benzoyl peroxide to spot treat, just makes things take longer to heal. I remembered someone mentioning Turmeric. I used to take it internally so I had some capsules left over. I cracked one open, mixed with some water and applied to the cyst....Honestly I am surprised how well this worked. There was still a wee bit of a scab over where I had tried to burst, but after two days of applying the turmeric for half an hour, it came off in the shower and underneath was a slightly red mark (still a bit of a bump, but I always get a bump for a while after a cysts has gone down) and it looks almost flat against my skin so much less noticeable and easy to cover. I've been using the turmeric almost nightly now for half and hour before after washing my face, honestly I think it has made a difference, I don't think I would put it over my whole face but as a spot treatment for cysts it seems to really take the inflammation down. I also tried it on a cyst/bump on my jaw line which didn't really bother me, you couldn't really see it, more feel it, I can hardly feel it now. Right now that cyst still feels like it is on its way out and I have one small active, looks a bit like a small white head or clogged pore (in fact I probably wouldn’t normally even bother about it, but because of my PIH, it draws my attention to it more).

PIH is fading, slowly, but fading. I have got the most amount of comments about the change in my skin this week, my boyfriend said when he came in to see me at work the other day he was thinking 'where have your spots on your cheek gone?'. I feel sorry for him, he wouldn’t even think to look at my spots but I point them out to him so much he has no choice, he must be sick of hearing about them by now. My mum also commented last Sunday that it looked a lot better and a friend said I looked great. Maybe a lot of that is to do with getting my confidence back and that glow you get when you feel comfortable in your skin. I'm still not where I want to be, I still feel like there may be a break out lurking, and I am worried that once the redness dies down I might be left with some small scar, but I am hopeful that these may also fill in a bit with time and I'm sure once I stop focusing then they will seem even less significant (I hope). But I want to concentrate on getting my acne totally under control before I think about anything else skin wise. Texture is starting to improve too and again I think this will help the overall look of the area where I had my worse outbreak. Oh my chin still has some annoying little blocked pore/closed comedones, much less than before and a lot less red, so hopefully they are just being a little bit stubborn and will all disappear eventually, still feels much smoother than before.

In terms of my regimen, pretty much the same as before, except instead of using the Kleenex face wipes to remove make up at night, I have started using Trilogy cream cleanser (and old favourite when my skin was nice) it is packed full off good things for your skin, bit worried it might break me out, but keeping and eye on it. Skin feels nourished afterwards (I remove with a hot face cloth), I still do a quick wash with my soap free cleanser just to remove residue. Oh and the turmeric, for half and hour after I was, and I just remove with a damp cotton bud (as I only use it over a small area).

Again patience is key..week 7, so just coming up for two months, that's nothing really right? And I am seeing progress. I really hope going into month three will be where I get more consistent results. Back to the healthy eating too. I've been eating sooo much crap, and to be honest my skin isn't any different than it would normally be, but I feel so lazy with no energy. I don't want to do any crazy diets cutting things out, just going to try and reduce the sugary foods and stodgy carbs, lots more veggies and fruit.

I hope you are all doing ok, and thank you again for the support, even without saying anything, just being able to come here and share with people who understand has helped a lot!